This is the second cake I made with bergamot, simply because they’re hard to find.  When I come back from Nancy (my hometown), I arrive in San Francisco with a head and mouth full of local flavors, and what most traditional than bergamot flavor? Les bonbons à la bergamote (bergamot candies) are a specialty from Nancy, and bergamot essence, oils, etc…are wildly use locally in baking. I was lucky enough to find in the store this bergamot, an amazing citrus that looks like a round lemon, but with an orange shape. Bergamot is supposedly the marriage of a bitter orange (orange amère) and a lime but it’s too bitter to eat like you would eat an orange, so it’s mainly used to make jams or as an aromatic scent in pastries, cakes and desserts.

What I like most about this cake is it’s moistness. I used the base of a recipe I found on a magazine called “Côté Sud/Ouest/Est/Paris” where instead of bergamot, lemon and lemoncino were the main character in this cake. You can use any citrus you like, and I am sure it would taste wonderful with oranges or even meyer lemons. Now…why do we call this “wet”? Simply because when the cake is baked and out of the oven, we pour extra bergamot juice on top to add moisture and of course flavor. If you are an Earl Grey fan, you will soon become a fan of this cake too.

Ingredients for 6 people

• 2 large bergamots
• 4.23 oz (or 120 g) flour
• 4.4 oz (or 125 g) unsalted butter
• 4.23 oz (or 120 g) granulated sugar
• 3.52 oz (or 100 g) powdered sugar
• 12 whole almonds, unsalted
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Preparation

Wash bergamots under running water and zest the peel using a small zester.  Squeeze the juice. Leave butter at room temperature and let it soften. In a mixing container, mix butter, add sugar and eggs. Continue beating until the mixture becomes soft and creamy.  Add flour, half of the bergamot juice and baking powder. The batter needs to be smooth. Add 2/3 of the zests.

Butter a square mold and spread batter evenly. Place almonds on top, regularly and evenly, in order that when you’ll cut squares, each square will have an almond in the middle.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 365F for about 35 minutes. If the cake browns too fast, just place some aluminium foil on top.

In the meantime, prepare the icing or the juice mixture. Mix sugar with the rest of the bergamot juice.

When the cake is cooked, remove from oven, and pour 2/3 of the bergamot juice mixture. Add the remaining zests to the juice and pour on top of the cake when the cake gets cold.

Cut in small squares with an almond on top.

I didn’t want to feature another dessert, but it was just impossible due the circumstances and to the encounter with an amazing citrus. I found the wonderful bergamot at my favorite store, which I never thought it was possible to find in the US. I am infatuated by bergamot scent and deeply in love with it. I just want to bathe in its scent and rub its peel all over my body.

Bergamot is quite famous in Nancy, my hometown… bergamot candies made with bergamot oil are a symbol of the city and the recipe is impossible to find, it’s somehow kept secrets among local “confiseurs” (specialists in making confiserie which include candies or any specialties made out of fruits, sugar or any sweet ingredient). They also make bergamot soaps that smell ridiculously good, you just want to eat them.

Bergamot scent is a pure delight, but very few eatable products contain that flavor, only Earl Grey tea, and some bergamot jam you can find locally in Nancy.  Bergamot is mainly used in perfumes, scents, essential oils, for healing purposes, etc.. and I am wondering why its use in cooking is not that popular, since its a citrus that looks like a big lemon with a smell and flavor that is pure delight. I know in some Moroccan dishes they used preserved bergamot instead of lemons, but that’s the extend of its use in the culinary world.

It ‘s very easy to get addicted to bergamot once you taste it, so be careful to not sink into it and turn into a bergamot junkie, like I am.

These tarts are superb, flavorful, citrusy, a tiny tarts and slightly bitter but so “parfumées” it’s like eating your favorite perfume in a mouthful. Imagine your eating your favorite Chanel or Dior perfumes…Besides, there’s little sugar, so they’re very light. I used a standard mixed flour crust whose recipe you can find here. You have to try bergamot, but the side effects are dangerous, you might develop a strong addiction to it.

Ingredients for 10 tartlets

For the crust, recipe here

For the filling

• 1 bergamot juice and zest
• 6 medium apples, peeled and sliced
• sugar (to taste)
• 2 tbs raspberry jam

Preparation

For the crust follow recipe.

In a mixing bowl, mix apples slices with juice of one bergamot and zest. Add sugar. Mix well and let it infuse for about 2-30 minutes.

Roll crust and cut in about 10 cm diameter circles. Remove slices from bowl, drain and kee the juice. Set the juice aside. Place apples slices on the dough circles. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 30 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and let it cool but keep lukewarm.

Add raspberry jam to the bergamot juice you saved. Mix well to obtain a smooth mixture. Place one tsp of raspberry/bergamot mixture on top of the apples. Serve lukewarm.